THE BULLPEN

    Rounding 3rd and heading for home! Our Pittsburgh Pirates close out their road trip this afternoon when they collide with the Cardinals in St Louie. These are your keys for today's game. 1)Day #2 of life without Marte (for 80 games + postseason-if they make it). For those of you not in the know, Pirates CF Starling Marte was suspended 80 games yesterday for PEDs by MLB, effective immediately. Teams and their fans have moved on with players that have been marked by the scarlet letter of PEDs, notably Milwaukee (Ryan Braun) and Miami (Dee Gordon). How will Black-N-Gold Nation respond when Marte returns to the party? Only time will tell. In the meantime, The Bucs were clipped by the Cards again last night in another pitcher's duel, 2-1. That's 2 losses and just 2 runs scored. We need more Hit, Run, & Score! 2)With Marte's departure, Andrew McCutchen moves back to CF. Cutch seemed to play with an extra edge last night, making some impressive plays in the field and going 2 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 9 games. Cutch happens! 3)It's a shame that the Bucs bats, or lack thereof, have wasted some good starting pitching the past few days. They'll try to continue that trend on the mound today with RH Gerrit Cole, 1-1, 5.29 ERA. St Louie starts RH Michael Wacha, 1-1, 3.00 ERA. Hop on the Cole Train for a Pirates win! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!